The Gift for the Pegasus: A CMC Mission

by G4PONYTales

Chapter 10 - Magical Assistance

Sweetie Belle’s List of Ideas for Scootaloo

Levitate her out of a window

Try to make her wings grow bigger and stronger

Floating spell to make her float without the use of wings

Sweetie Belle, who was now sitting at home, tapped her chin for other ideas. They were obviously based on what the CMCs had talked about, in terms of giving Scootaloo a boost by throwing her out of the window or enhancing her wings. So at least there was still some team effort involved in this solitary planning.

I get the idea of “team effort”, thought Sweetie Belle, but I can’t help but wish that we could all just do our own planning like this, rather than having to all agree with each others’ ideas in order for them to come through. I mean, maybe magic will be the answer after all, and now that I’m finally coming to a stand and doing my own planning, Scootaloo will finally get the help that she needs.

Sweetie Belle felt a small twinge of guilt for going ahead with her ideas without the rest of her team. Then she shoved it off, knowing that if she wasn’t taking a stand to do what she felt was right, this CMC mission probably wouldn’t go far at all.

It was the next day - a day for lessons with Rainbow Dash.

As always, all four of Scootaloo’s friends had arrived in a hot air balloon to come and watch, and support Scootaloo. The idea of using magic was still a secret, and neither the pegasus nor the unicorn had discussed the proposal since it was mentioned the other day.

Sweetie Belle sat watching Scootaloo struggle to stay in the air for more than five seconds, wondering constantly about when she should start using magic, and how to use it discreetly.

She knew that Applebloom would likely be unhappy at Sweetie Belle for going ahead with something that hadn’t been agreed upon by everypony as a team. But what else was there for them to do? It was either wait for another brilliant idea, or do magic discreetly. And Sweetie Belle was choosing the latter.

In fact, thought Sweetie Belle as she watched Scootaloo practice flapping her wings the way Rainbow Dash flapped hers, and then performing another unsuccessful attempt, maybe I should help Scootaloo… right now.

Sweetie Belle glanced at her friends, then held up a book to block her horn so that nopony would see the glow. She then used her horn to burn two peepholes through the book and, glancing through them, concentrated…

Scootaloo yelped as a magical orb surrounded her while she was in the air. Her wings stopped beating out of surprise… and surprise overcame her when she realized she was staying in the air…

“Sweetie Belle! Hello, earth to Sweetie Belle?”

It was Applebloom, waving her hoof in front of the unicorn’s face. She immediately realized she was daydreaming, and snapped out of it. “Yeah, sorry…” she smiled sheepishly. She then glanced back at Scootaloo, who was still trying unsuccessfully to fly.

“So, I figured I should tell ya this… Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon want to talk to me in private tomorrow about… somethin’.” Applebloom rubbed her head nervously. “It’s… well, I don’t really know what it’s about, but Diamond Tiara seems to really want us to meet, and uh… I think I should be there.”

Sweetie Belle tried not to let the surprise show on her face, nor the excited beating of her heart. “Um, sure. Yeah, okay, that’s fine.”

“Yer okay with that?” Applebloom looked serious. “I know we always like to meet up after flyin’ lessons… but ta be honest, our meetin’s haven’t been of much substance lately anyway - not to say that our mission’s fallin’ through’ or anythin’ but, my point is, maybe it’s good we all have a break tomorrow.

A break. Yes. A break. AB, that is exactly what I need.

Sweetie Belle tried not to look to happy as she nodded understandingly. “Yeah, sure, you go ahead. Maybe I’ll use it as a day off to do my own thing.” That was only a white lie.

Applebloom grinned. “Yeah, sure. I’m glad you’re alright with this. You know I’d never leave you out of things unless it was an unusual situation like this.”

The words left a slight pang in Sweetie Belle’s heart, because that was exactly what she was doing. Nevertheless, she brushed off the feeling and smiled back. “I completely understand. We’re all friends, after all.” She then realized something: “Wait. Where do you think you’ll meet?”

“Oh. Diamond Tiara mentioned Silver Spoon’s house, because it’s private and her parents are often away. Why?”

This is perfect! Sweetie Belle smiled cooly. “Oh, I was just thinking I could spend my me-time in the treehouse.”

“Yeah, well anyhow, I already told Scootaloo that the meetin’s off fer tomorrow. That said, she may get the same idea and join ya in the abandoned treehouse.” Applebloom laughed. “All I’m sayin’ is, be prepared fer a surprise.”

Sweetie Belle could only smile at that. “Yeah. Right.” A surprise…

Scootaloo,

Meet me at the treehouse after school. I want to show you something I think you might like.

Scootaloo knew that the note she got in class was from Sweetie Belle. She also knew that the meeting for tomorrow had been called off, which could only mean one thing:

It was time for Sweetie Belle to try using magic.

Scootaloo hadn’t travelled on her scooter in days, because she wanted to save her energy for flying lessons. Also, her wings had been feeling sore lately from all the practicing, and to ride her scooter required lots of strength; something she felt her small wings losing rather than growing.

Scootaloo had butterflies in her stomach as she approached the treehouse. The butterflies were from excitement, and worry that something might go wrong. All she could do was hope that the magic would be a better resort - even if it was considered cheating.

Scootaloo arrived at the treehouse first. She walked past the stump where she had attempted flying many weeks ago, where she first met reformed Diamond Tiara. She climbed the ladder and walked into the treehouse.

The treehouse felt so empty without her friends, and powerful with memories of friendship. It would also be a powerful place for Scootaloo to visit, due to this mission to remember that took place right now. It was a meaningful mission because it involved something so deep, and was a demonstration that she had friends who truly cared about her, and would think she was awesome even if this mission did fall through.

Scootaloo, for the millionth time since this mission had started, ignored the negativity buzzing in her brain. Negativity towards herself and the expected outcome of this mission. She just closed her eyes, and breathed in the woodsy scent. She stood there, deep in thought, for a while until she heard Sweetie Belle’s eager voice.

Sweetie Belle mounted her list of ideas telekinetically onto the wall. She then telekinetically took a few books out of her school bag. They were spell books.

Scootaloo squinted at them, recognizing a couple that she had spotted Twilight reading in the past. These were the kind of books that skilled unicorns used. Did Sweetie Belle really have the capability to perform such spells?

She’s a unicorn, Scootaloo, she reminded herself. She can do magic. So of course she can pull it off. Still, Scootaloo - often a daredevil herself - couldn’t help the small but significant butterflies in her stomach.

The three fillies had taken the train into the outskirts of Ponyville, where the higher-class ponies tended to live. Applebloom looked all around the house she was in with wide eyes. She knew Silver Spoon was rich, and was somewhat expecting she’d live in a mansion;

But this was a palace. The ceilings were glass, and were roughly one hundred feet high. A pool was in the backyard. Lush couches and lined the party-sized living room, and in the middle stood a long marble top table with gold finishing. The other rooms were glamourous looking themselves, in their own way.

Silver Spoon spoke up, in a somewhat familiar tone she would use to boast about ponies she marveled about, or looked up to: “My family actually meets with a lot of important ponies. They run several large farm and furniture manufacturing companies around Equestria; that’s why they are gone so often.” They approached the couches. “Please, girls. Have a seat.”

So this was actually a meeting room, not a living room. That made things easier to understand. Applebloom had trouble imagining how her family who ran a small farm in Ponyville would react to all this… material wealth. Her sister, for starters, would have a fit about marble top tables and other class or ceramic house-things being pretty, but not practical.

Another thing Applebloom had trouble digesting was that she was doing something that would have seemed unthinkable years back: Sitting in the mansion of Silver Spoon, on the same couch as Diamond Tiara.

Although she knew they were reformed, it still felt weird and somewhat surreal.

Maybe, after all those years, it still would despite having fully accepted these two as friends.

Sweetie Belle flipped to a few pages she had bookmarked in a spellbook, and read out loud from them. “Pony levitation spell, for beginners: Keeps the pony in the air for ten minutes, providing the physical effect of flying. Allows to pony to move through the air at their free will, like they are swimming.” She telekinetically flipped the page. “Secondary pony levitation spell: Allows the unicorn casting the spell to move and control the pony they are levitating, but requires more magical stamina and raw will. Not recommended for beginners.” Sweetie Belle smiled. “So beginners can use these spells after all. Otherwise, it would say that on all these spells!”

Scootaloo felt herself relax a little, despite the excitement of being levitated into the air, and being able to fly - even if it was only for ten minutes.

“Temporary growth spell: Lasts an hour, allows the object to grow to the unicorn’s desire. Cannot be used on other ponies.” Sweetie Belle frowned. “But look here: Pony growth spell. Can grow a pony bigger than their designated size. Specific results depend on the unicorn’s intentions and raw will. See the spell underneath to reverse effects.” Sweetie Belle clapped her hooves gleefully. “We’re getting somewhere, are we not?”

Scootaloo grinned as she felt herself catching Sweetie Belle’s excitement.

Sweetie Belle telekinetically opened the other spell books. “These other books are backups; they have spells somewhat similar to this; in a way, all spells are connected to one another.” She grinned at the memory of Twilight’s lessons from a while back, when she would occasionally practice magic with Sweetie Belle. “But I think we should go through these first. So, where do you want to start?”

Scootaloo thought for a second. Despite the excitement bubbling in her - this could really work! - she decided that these things should be taken slow and steady. “How about if we do the spells them in the order you mentioned them. You can start with the beginners-friendly levitation spell.”

“So, I was thinking: You know how, like, neither of us can do much to help Scootaloo because we aren’t pegasi, and therefore hardly know, like, anything about flying?”

For the duration of the mission, the predicament had been beneath a fog of denial; a low-key elephant in the room. Diamond Tiara took the two other ponies by surprise in how she mentioned it so straight-forwardly, so bluntly.

Because of the strong, manipulative personality that Diamond Tiara seemingly still possessed despite being reformed, the two other ponies automatically nodded in agreement.

The ring leader smiled sweetly, and continued: “Well, there are three races here in Equestria, correct? Unicorns, Pegasi, Earth Ponies.” She flipped her long mane as she said so. “And, we are all special, in our own ways. Correct?”

The two other earth ponies in the room nodded, not quite sure what Diamond Tiara was getting at with this speech - although it did have a pleasant motivation to it, recognizing that no race dominated another. Even Silver Spoon was surprised to see this morally confidant side of her best friend.

“You two are probably wondering why I’m saying this. Well, it’s because, we’re all Earth Ponies. And although we know nothing about flying, we can help Scootaloo, with our abilities.”

Applebloom raised a hoof, her eyes narrowed in confusion. “So… what yer sayin’ is, we should help Scootaloo with our Earth Pony abilities?”

Diamond Tiara flipped her long mane: “What you’re saying is Earth Ponies are useless?”

“No no, I don’t mean that. I know her have special traits of our own. My sister uses her strength to run our family farm, fer pete's’ sa-”

“Well do you know what? Farming is what we are specially good at. You just stated my point right there, Applebloom. Sometimes, the natural way is the only way to go. Therefore, we earth ponies should farm some food to help Scootaloo’s wings grow. Who’s with me?”

“I am!” Silver Spoon jumped in giddily, before saying to Applebloom; “I did say that my family is rich because of farming.” She turned towards her best friend. “So who is to say we can’t use these talents for stuff other than money? What a great idea, Diamond!”

Diamond Tiara, still a lover of attention, flipped her mane and giggled.

Applebloom began to smile in thought: Maybe this would be a good idea. If there was one thing she had learned today, it was that having Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon around for help may have been the best decision she had made this year.

Author's Note:

I apologize if the title "magical assistance' is misleading; originally Sweetie Belle was going to use her magic in this chapter before it got too long (don't worry, it will still happen in the next chapter!). On the other hand - this can imply that earth ponies have magic as well....